Getting a bit more confident with my mushrooming – although I’m following the sensible  advice of not actually eating anything until I’ve had the chance to learn a lot more directly from an expert.  (One way would be a fungi foray with Ziggy from the Sheffield Wildlife Trust on Saturday the 30th of this month – book here).

These Bolete were picked this morning in Woodhouse all from within a few feet of silver birch.  I noticed that they were from trees just inside the margins of the woodland edges not present when you got further in.  I was tempted to make a breakfast of these as the Bolete with their tubes are less easily confused with dangerous specimens than their gilled relatives.  But looking more closely I could not definitively distinguish whether these were Brown (Leccinum Scabrum) or Orange Birch Bolete (Leccinum Versipelle).  So it was poached egg muffins instead.

My second exciting find of the day was on a visit to the Welbeck Estate which straddles the borders of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.  This was sparked by rumours that excellent sourdough bread could be found there.  The rumours were spot on and Welbeck Farm Shop was a revelation.  Excellent looking meats, many prepared as ready to cook items, such as chicken cushions and fabulous looking little lamb roasts, brilliant local vegetables, a fabulous deli and cheese counter and lots more.  The sourdough looked really rustic and we bought a selection including one with a cheese and onion centre!  This turned out to be the amazing Stichelton Cheese the first organic raw milk blue cheese produced in Britain since the late 1960s.  It tasted great in the bread and even better as a large piece on its own.

Also on the estate is The Harley Gallery. We made a quick visit and will have to go back to fully enjoy its quality – one of the current exhibitions is of large animal sculptures made from old machine parts.  These were extremely effective with the full sized crocodile actually being quite alarming.

The Welbeck Estate was intriging and our brief visit showed that we need to find out more and we look forward to making a further visit.